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Sunday, October 7, 2012

Vegetable Soup

DAD’ll admit it. Vegetable soup can be a little thin and sometimes bitter or acidic. It doesn’t need to be that way. This recipe brings other, non-veg, ingredients to the dish to give it flavor balance and make it a hearty enough soup to stand on its own.

Vegetable soup.

Canned tomatoes usually need sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. Try this as an experiment. Dump a can of diced or crush tomatoes into an anodized aluminum or stainless steel pot and heat them (never into a bare aluminum pot). Then try a spoonful. Not unpleasant but not good huh? Now, start adding sweetener, sugar or your family’s favorite kind. As you add sweetener you’ll notice the tomatoes begin to taste better as the sweetness balances their acid. But, even here as a soup it wouldn’t be very fulfilling. It needs something more. It needs something more than other flavors; it needs body. Trust the NF Dad, you can’t get to heartiness on spice alone.

It needs fat.

EVOO is a good fat choice, but it doesn’t always satisfy Dad. It just doesn’t stay emulsified. Beef fat is okay, but since he isn’t making beef and vegetable soup he needs to look elsewhere. He wants dairy, and sour cream plays very well with tomatoes. So add a dollop, mix, and try it again. Good huh? Depending on how much you add you might even think it is great. Now you have a base on which to build a vegetable soup.

This particular soup substituted, added, and deleted ingredients based on what Dad had on hand in the root cellar and pantry. The Twins needs necessitate economizing so this particular recipe is likely unlike any you’ve seen before.

2 16 oz. cans of diced tomatoes drained.

1 4 oz. can of tomato paste.

4 4 oz. cans of mushrooms drained

2 zucchini sliced

1 bag of fresh spinach

2 medium onions diced

2 orange and red bell peppers diced

1 bag of carrots, peeled and sliced

3 hearts of celery sliced

8 oz. vegetable stock

8 oz. roasted red pepper stock

Better than Bouillon beef base

Water to dilute the beef base, follow directions provided on jar.

Basil, oregano, parsley flake,

Sour cream, sugar, garlic powder, all as necessary

Into a crock, he dumped all of the ingredients except the “as necessary” ingredients. He measured out and used enough water to cover the veg. He treated the veg stock and red pepper stock as water for beef base measurement purposes. He totaled the liquid ingredients in ounces and added the recommended amount of beef base.

He brought them to a boil and tasted for salinity. Instead of just dumping salt into the soup, he added chicken bouillon cubes; why not invite some more flavors? He returned it to a boil and checked them for sweetness/acidity balance. He added some Splenda, tasted it, and added some more until he found the balance he sought. Then he simmered it uncovered for a few hours to evaporate the excess water and concentrate the flavors. After the basil and oregano had rehydrated, and the carrots and celery had softened, he began to add the sour cream until he liked the balance. Then he turned off the crock, added the garlic powder to his and Mom’s liking and let it sit for a half hour before declaring it done.

There you have it, a vegetable soup satisfying enough to be a meal. And, as the NF Mom says, “You can’t get this in a can.” No you can’t.

Notes:

Dad got lazy this time, but he knows that to get the carrots uniformly cooked, the slices need to have uniform mass. The best way to do this with a mandolin (creates uniform slices) and by cutting the carrots in half first, then cutting the larger end in half, and then slicing on the mandolin. Because he didn’t care to make the effort (Liesel needed huggy-lovey), he cut them with a kitchen knife instead.

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Thursday, October 4, 2012

More Pink and Blue

"I'm pretty and I know it."

"Dad!?" "Pink ruffles EJ."

Meatloaf and Meatball Sandwiches

The New Family likes this recipe because it can be made into meatloaf, burgers for grilling, or meatball sandwiches. Looking at what the they have on hand, Dad decided to make both.

Long post. Click continue reading to read on.

As usual, the seasoning is to taste so quantities provided are guesstimates.

3 lbs. ground beef

3 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. oregano

1 tbsp. basil

1 tbsp. dried minced garlic

1 medium onion diced

1 bell pepper diced

1 cup Parmesan

1 cup Panko breadcrumbs

2 eggs

Splash of milk (Dad used cream as he doesn’t keep milk around)

Salt and ground black pepper

Water as needed

For meatloaf, you will want BBQ sauce. However, to make meatball sandwiches, use a jar of pasta sauce blended in a blender and seasoned to your liking (Dad likes to add fennel and garlic). You will also need a bag of Turano rolls.

On a side note, reader Ann T introduced the New Family Dad to garlic. She made breakfast for him and her husband one fall morning and used it on sausage. Dad was impressed. Norm, not so much. Thanks Ann!

Saute the onion and peppers with cooking spray, in oil, or in butter. Dad used cooking spray because he had his apprentice strapped to his chest while preparing them and it was easier than using butter.

If only you could smell how good this smells.

In a bowl, make a thick slurry from the eggs, milk, Parm, Panko, garlic, oregano, basil, water, and pepper. Before adding the veg and ground beef, taste the slurry. The ingredients will not have melded, but you need to make it slightly salty because only the Parm has salt. The Panko breadcrumbs have some salt, but even combined they don’t have enough to season the meat.

The amounts provided for the ingredients are estimates. You want to balance the dry with the wet until the slurry is the consistency of ricotta cheese.

Wash and sanitize your hands.

When you have the balance correct, add the veg (deglaze that pan, don’t leave the good stuff behind) and meat. Mix to combine with your hands. Dad lets the ground beef rest on the counter for a bit to warm up, about a ½ hour. Trying to combine it when it is too cold is unpleasant. It is going to be thoroughly cooked anyway, so bacteria growth is a low concern.

Wash and sanitize your hands.

Alternatively, if you are hyper concerned about keeping the meat cool, you can combine in a food processor.

Leave the mixture in the bowl and let rest, covered, in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. The purpose is to rehydrate the dried spices and to let the flavors marry.

When ready, make a loaf, balls, patties or all three. Make the balls an appropriate size to fit two or three in a roll. Dad divided the mass into two equal sized portions. He made a meatloaf out one, and meatballs and burgers out of the other.

Now, you want to get a good sear on the outside of the loaf and balls without overcooking the center. This is best accomplished in a hot (450º) convection oven and on a rack with spaces narrow enough to support the loaf/balls. Use a drip pan, but keep it low enough to allow air to circulate. The loaf cooked for 17 minutes at 450º then 33 minutes at 350º. The balls and burgers cooked for 21 minutes at 450º.

You want brown, not gray.

Don’t waste your time trying to brown in a pan. That’s the road to disappointment. And yes, a convection oven does a much better job than a regular oven.

Tip: If you’re not getting an even brown, even when you rotate your food, you might need to clean your oven.

For both, cook until your instant read thermometer is about 5º from done, about 155º. Pull and let rest 3 or four minutes. Final temperature should be 160º. Blend in blender and season your pasta sauce to your liking. Place in crock with meatballs, or in pot on stove to keep warm until ready to serve. When ready, serve three balls per roll. To really kick this recipe up, sprinkle whole-milk mozzarella cheese and crushed red pepper flake on top and brown in the oven.

Meatballs and burger.

Meatballs in sauce.

For the loaf, paint a thin layer of BBQ sauce on and return to 350º oven. Repeat

for three or more layers. Check internal temperature each time. Do not exceed 155º. Pull at this temperature and allow it to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.